Technology has been rapidly developing to the point that it's possible to do almost anything with the help of a smart phone. You can get directions, pay your bills, and save coupons with the help of your smart phone. And, increasingly, your mobile device is getting to the point where it can be used as a credit card.

Electronic Wallets

There are different companies, from Visa to Google, developing electronic wallets. You can store information about your credit cards and other payment methods in your smart phone, and then use them to pay for items at the store — without the need for a huge physical wallet in your back pocket. In some cases, these wallets are even developing the ability for you to wave your phone in front of a terminal to complete the transaction. (Right now, a lot of these wallets work mostly on loyalty programs and gym memberships, since you only need to scan a barcode.)

The technology that would be used by cell phones in this manner is called near-field communications (NFC). However, many stores don't have NFC capabilities with their card readers. The result is that, until more stores adopt this technology, you need to store your payment information attached to a barcode, or use some other method (Home Depot, for example, allows you to access your PayPal information and pay with PayPal at its terminals).

Some credit card issuers are starting to get around this, though. Consumer Reports Money Adviser points out that some issuers, particularly Citi, are sending PayPass stickers that you can place on your cell phone. These stickers use the RFID PayPass technology that many retailers have incorporated. This is where you tap the terminal with your card, and the frequency is used. No need to swipe the magnetic strip. These stickers are one way to convert a cell phone into a credit card without the need for NFC technology to be adopted.

Can You Protect Your Electronic Wallet?

What you really want to do, though, is make sure that your electronic wallet is well protected. If you have information saved on your smart phone, make sure you have a lock-down app. These apps allow you to lock the phone so that if it is lost or stolen you can prevent someone from getting in and using your personal information. There are also apps that allow you to remotely wipe the cell phone, turning it into an expensive paperweight.

With the sticker, though, you have to be more careful. If you lose your phone, or have it stolen, you can't exactly disable that sticker without calling and canceling your credit card. Additionally, you have to make sure that the sticker doesn't fall off your phone, leaving a random RFID sticker for someone to use. If you don't notice the sticker is gone, it could be hours or days before you begin to rectify the problem.

In the end, technology is likely to continue changing the way we interact with money. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, it's important that you understand the challenges and prepare to boost your security, even as you enjoy the benefits.

There are many things that can be done on the internet these days. You can buy car insurance online without having to fill out mountains of paperwork, or order an infinite amount of merchandise from shops like Amazon without a long wait. Banking is another sector that has fully embraced the internet.

Online Banking Is Convenient

You can now do plenty of financial operations online without needing to fill out any paper forms or visit a bricks and mortar branch of your local bank. Being able to do everything online provides a lot of convenience for customers, and it greatly speeds up many normal banking operations.

Today, nearly all financial institutions let their customers access their accounts online through a PC or from a smartphone. Transactions such as checking account balances, making payments and transfers, sending money to another person, or even depositing checks can all be done online.

Online financial services offer many advantages over traditional banking. First, there is less wasted paper. Most of us simply discard banking statements a few days after receiving them. For those that need to keep the records, keeping them organized would be quite a challenge.

Furthermore, in the case of online records, one can quickly filter down the data in order to search for specific date ranges, transaction types, payees, and more, which is something that is obviously impossible to do on a paper document. The records are accessible on any web based device, so one doesn't need to carry banking documents with them if they need to show them to someone else.

Online Banking Saves Money

Another way that online banking services are better is that they reduce the costs involved in running a bank. There's less paper used, so less costs for printing and mailing documentation. An increased number of people do their transactions online without the assistance of a bank employee, which means that banks won't have to invest as heavily in their branches.

Doing banking online is much faster and more convenient for the customer, as they won't have to take time to go to the branch, or fill out pages and pages of paperwork to get simple transactions done.

One can now find “online only banks”, which are financial institutions that only have one or two branches in each city, but the rest of the transactions are done either by web, phone or ATM.

These banks then pass on the savings to their customers, by paying higher interest rates on deposit accounts and reducing or eliminating many fees, such as withdrawal charges or monthly account maintenance fees.

One of the biggest misconceptions in personal banking that many people seem to fall prey to these days is that all banks offer basically the same account options. How false this idea actually is I can certainly tell you, and that’s exactly what I intend to do here.

As a young man, I had the good fortune of being supported by parents with great intentions and reasonably high incomes. In short, I wasn’t forced into early labor; in fact, working while in school was discouraged, despite my desire to make some money on the side. My parents urged a focus on education as my one and only job – the idea being that good grades would eventually land me a concrete, high paying job down the road, and then I could pay them back.

Unfortunately for all of us, we couldn’t foresee the economic turmoil that lay ahead, which would strike at the most inopportune time, just as I was graduating from college.

The Start of It

Upon graduating, despite reasonable concern from my parents who were sincerely feeling the effects of the economic downshift, I decided to use my small life savings to do some traveling. My hope was that by taking a year or so to live cheaply and enjoy the world as a young man, I would gain some great life experiences and return to the working world just as things were starting to look up. How naive an idea that was is now laughable, but only because I managed to turn a resulting bad situation around and again find financial stability relatively painlessly.

About six months into my stint of traveling, my savings, which I had transferred over to my checking account, was dwindling faster than I could comprehend. I assumed that I’d been spending too much on food, drinks, and fun without really doing the math or sensibly budgeting. It didn’t add up though. By month seven, I had just enough to buy a plane ticket home, which I did immediately. And then I realized what had happened.

Bank Fees Take Their Toll

My existing accounts, both savings and checking, had huge maintenance fees attached to a failure to keep a minimum balance in both. I’d had no idea these fees even existed as I’d set the accounts up with my parents way back in high school. Somehow, they’d forgotten as well, and the result was a ridiculously huge amount of money being virtually thrown away to the bank over the course of six months. It was enough to cut my travel plans decidedly short, and force me to take out a hefty personal loan to cover my living expenses for the next 4 months before I finally found a job.

The Remedy – Researching New Banks

Aside from the loan, which I’ve just recently been able to pay off in full, I immediately dropped my old bank in disgust, and did a huge amount of research on various other options before deciding to go with an online bank, much thanks to discover.com/online-banking and other similarly helpful online banking sites that I used to compare interest rates and maintenance fee-free options. The number of vastly better options I quickly found literally disgusted me, such was my angst that I'd been so careless.

The Takeaway

Number one, never, ever, be naive enough to think that all banks and account options are created equal: they’re not. And number two, doing research on both your existing bank account and financial institutions and comparing them to other available options out there can save you a world of financial woe and heartache. The fact that I missed out on so much money and opportunity to continue an incredible traveling experience for such an unnecessary and easily-avoidable reason, has me kicking myself on a regular basis.

So do yourself a favor, and make sure you do the research before you find yourself doing the same.

Yesterday I heard the news that one of my favorite banks, Capital One 360 had just released a new remote deposit app for Iphone and Android devices.

I quickly downloaded the app to take it for a spin. I've got a couple of accounts with Capital One, and knew that I would most likely be using the remote deposit functionality on a regular basis. As a blogger I still get a lot of checks from a wide range of clients, and I need to make deposits more than the average Joe. What better way to deposit them than by quickly snapping a couple of pictures with my smartphone?

Today I thought I'd do a quick look at the Capital One 360 App and it's functionality, and then take a look at what other major banks currently offer some sort of remote deposits.

Capital One 360 Remote Deposit

Capital One 360 had announced that they were going to be releasing a remote deposit feature a while back when they were still with ING, but after they were acquired by Capital One, I'm assuming that the app got pushed to the back burner for a while. Well now it's been released, and it seems to work pretty well.

After you login to the app with your account login information, you'll be given the option to view your accounts, transfer money, find an ATM or deposit a check.

When you click on the “deposit” link, you'll be taken to the screen below, and prompted to “start”.

The app will advise you that the maximum you can deposit is $3,000 per check, and that you should ensure that you have good lighting when you snap your pictures of the check.

After you take and confirm the pictures of the front and back of the check, you'll be asked to confirm the amount of the check and which account you want it deposited in. When you're done you just hit “deposit” and your check will be deposited. Easy peasy!

You can also take a picture of the front and back of your check with a regular digital camera or scanner, and upload them through your Capital One 360 account on the web if you don't have a smartphone.

The Fine Print With Remote Deposits

There is some fine print when you're doing the remote deposit as far as how long it takes for the money to hit your account, what you can deposit, etc.

Capital One will only accept U.S. personal, business, and federal checks.

$3,000 maximum per check.

Checks deposited into Capital One 360 Checking for less than $500 – first $200 is available the next business day, the remaining funds are available after 2 business days.

Checks deposited into Capital One 360 Checking for greater than $500 – first $200 is available the next business day, the remaining funds are available after 5 business days.

Any deposit into a Capital One 360 Savings or Kids Savings Account – funds are available after 5 business days.

So deposits would typically be available between 2-5 business days.

Reasons Remotely Deposited Checks Get Rejected

There are times when a remote deposit might get rejected. Some of the reasons that Capital One gives for that include:

They can’t read your check

The corners of your check are cut off

The image is too light or too dark

Information on the check is unclear

Check is greater than the $3,000 deposit limit

You’re missing a signature on the back

So make sure to get a good snap of the check, and make sure it is for less than $3,000. And don't forget to sign it!

You'll receive an email notifying you when your remote deposit has been accepted. Until you receive it, hang onto that check – just in case!

What Other Banks Offer Remote Deposits?

Not all banks currently offer remote deposits, in fact it's still a relatively new feature in the banking sphere. The more popular banks that I know of that currently have remote deposits available in some form include:

Capital One 360: Capital One just released remote deposits via their app and by scanning in checks via their site.

Ally Bank: Ally doesn't currently have remote deposit via phone app, but you can scan in and deposit checks through their website. (App is in development)

What If Your Bank Doesn't Offer Remote Deposit?

If your bank doesn't currently offer remote deposits, there is something else you can do. If you have a PayPal account, you can download the PayPal app which also has a remote deposit feature as well.

Just make sure your bank account is linked to your PayPal account (which it probably already is), scan the check in and then transfer the money to your bank account when it becomes available. Doing it this way will mean a delay of 5-10 days most likely, but if it's your only option, it is a decent option.

Do you currently use remote deposit with your bank account? Have you considered signing up for an account because of this feature? Tell us your thoughts.

On this site we've reviewed quite a few online banks from Ally to ING Direct to Perkstreet. In general we've talked about how people view their customer service, what kind of rates they have, the histories of the companies and so forth.

One bank that I missed that has apparently had an online bank for quite a while now is also the company that I had one of my very first credit cards through, American Express. I'm not sure how I missed this offering, but it recently came to my attention. They're currently one of the higher (albeit low) rates right now, so I thought I'd do a quick review of American Express Personal Savings.

History Of American Express Bank

American Express has been around for just over 150 years, so they're no Johnny come lately. From Wikipedia:

American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best known for its credit card, charge card, and traveler's cheque businesses. Amex cards account for approximately 24% of the total dollar volume of credit card transactions in the US, the highest of any card issuer.

BusinessWeek and Interbrand ranked American Express as the 22nd most valuable brand in the world, estimating the brand to be worth US$14.97 billion. Fortune listed Amex as one of the top 20 Most Admired Companies in the World.

Amex hasn't always had a savings account and for much of their 150+ years they have had more of a focus on the credit card and charge card markets (can you say “more profitable”?), but only after our recent financial downturn did they speed up customer acquisition for their deposit accounts. Seems like a lot of companies would like to have that consumer cash on hand nowadays.

Amex Savings Are FDIC Insured

American Express is a FDIC insured bank so you don't ever have to worry about losing your money, as long as you don’t have more than $250,000 per depositor. In other words, each spouse would be covered in separate accounts for up to $250,000.

American Express is a widely known and highly stable brand, however, so I don't think you have to worry about them going out of business anytime in the near future. You're good to go.

American Express Savings Account Benefits

An American Express savings account has a lot of features and benefits, similar to a lot of other online banks. Among them:

Submit your application: Choose what type of account you want (Savings/CD) and apply online or by phone anytime at 1-800-446-6307.

Receive confirmation: If your account is approved you'll receive an e-mail confirming that your application is approved. You will also receive a Personal Savings welcome kit in the mail.

Fund your account: Then you just need to fund your account and start earning interest!

There you go. As mentioned you should get an email confirming that your account is approved and that you're ready to go. Look out for that welcome kit in the mail!

Conclusion

American Express is one of the most recognizable brands in the world. Most people know about them because of their credit and charge cards (that's where I first came upon them), but they've also quickly become a good solid option when it comes to online savings accounts.

You're not going to find many banks nowadays with great rates – or anything really above 1% – but with that said American Express savings is currently near the top of the bank rates hill.

Add to that the fact that their FDIC insured, and are rated as a 5 star safe and sound bank by bankrate.com, and I think you've got a solid savings account option that I would recommend checking out. You can sign up for an account or get details through the links below.

In the past month or so we've been hearing a lot about how big banks, in the face of new regulations limiting the amount of money they can make on interchange fees to retailers, had decided to start adding new fees elsewhere in their banking operations. Unfortunately for many customers that meant in many cases that they'd be charging new fees for using debit accounts. For example, Bank of America announced that they'd be adding a new $5 fee to their debit accounts. Others like Chase, Wells Fargo, Sun Trust and Regions banks all decided to add new fees in some form as well.

This past week many of those same banks in the face of customer anger have decided to start backing off of those new fees, or revise who would be charged the fees.

Bank of America Backing Off New Fees

Earlier today Bank of America announced that it would be backing off of the new fees to customers after other banks did the same:

Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the second- biggest U.S. lender by deposits, dropped plans to charge a $5 monthly fee for debit cards after a nationwide backlash from customers and lawmakers.

“We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee,” David Darnell, co-chief operating officer, said in a statement from the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender today. “As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so.”

Bank of America reversed course after competitors including Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), the No. 2 debit-card issuer, decided not to charge similar fees. Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI) and Regions Financial Corp., based in Birmingham, Alabama, said yesterday they will eliminate their check-card fees after customers rebelled.

So Bank of America, Chase Bank, Wells Fargo, SunTrust Bank, and Regions Bank dropped their plans to move forward with new debit usage fees. That is, of course, good news for consumers who are still using those banks.

Why Were They Considering The New Fees?

The question is, why were the banks considering adding the new fees in the first place?

Card issuers have been seeking to replace revenue lost after the U.S. capped fees on debit-card transactions earlier this year. The limits, mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, may cut annual revenue by $8 billion at the biggest U.S. banks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Government.

So in order to make sure their profits remained high in the face of new regulation, they decided to bring new fees to the customers. While to some degree I understand that this would end up happening after an ill advised government action (did they not consider the fact that retailers probably weren't going to pass the savings down to customers, and that banks would have to raise revenue elsewhere?) that causes the banks to lose billions, I think the way they went about it really helped shed some light on why so many people are taking their money and leaving the big banks for something more customer friendly.

In fact, thousands of customers have banded together to express their displeasure with the big banks by joining a movement called “Bank Transfer Day“, where they'll be leaving their big banks that aren't treating them well on November 5th, and moving to local credit unions and small banks that are more customer focused.

Do You Trust Big Banks After This Fee Debacle? Why Not Switch?

My question to my readers after this debacle surrounding whether or not the banks will start charging fees for debit accounts is this: Has the way they have handled this situation tarnished their reputation in your eyes, and will you trust them going forward to not introduce new fees elsewhere? Have you switched your bank yet to a credit union or smaller more customer focused bank?

I dropped by Bank of America account a while back, and have since opened an account with my new favorite bank, Perkstreet Financial. Not only do I not get charged fees for my account, but instead they pay me 2% cash back on all my purchases! That means they pay me almost $600/year after all is said and done.

While the big banks aren't charging the new fees at this juncture, my guess is that they'll find a way to institute new fees somewhere at some point soon. My suggestion is to just take your money and vote with your feet – by taking your money to a better bank.

Some more customer centric places I highly recommend to do your banking:

Perkstreet Financial Rewards Checking Earlier this year I signed up for Perkstreet, and have been making 2% cash back ever since. There are no fees on the account to speak of, and Perkstreet is extremely customer focused. Unlike other banks they're taking a part of the money they make on interchange fees and giving it back to customers in the form of cash back. I've made over $100 already in just a couple of months. Read my Perkstreet Review.

Local Credit Unions Follow the link to find a local credit union. In most cases their accounts are going to be fee free and much more customer focused.

Will you be switching your bank account from a big bank to a smaller local credit union or online bank either on November 5th, or another day? Tell us your thoughts on banks, fees, government regulation and how it affects consumers in the comments.

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